Sudan’s Bashir says he is shouldering greater burden after electoral win
April 27, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir said that the confidence granted to him by the Sudanese people after his re-election has increased his responsibility and burden on his shoulders.
He asserted that the transparency and fairness of the elections has dealt a blow to talk about the low voter turnout and served as a cultural model to others especially the “European colonial powers”.
“Our religion and history is better than theirs [Europeans] a million times”.
The incumbent said that Sudan is the land of the oldest civilization in history of Merowe in north Sudan adding that “it was not a surprise that they gave a lesson to those who look at themselves as guardians of Sudan”.
“With these elections, the Sudanese people gave the world a lesson in ethics, they gave the world a lesson in integrity,” he said.
Al-Bashir also praised Sudanese people saying that they “proved to be genuine people and disrupted attempts of the self-centered and deceived who said they had a pleasant surprise” in reference to the opposition which had announced earlier that the day of the election results announcement will carry a surprise to the ruling party.
“Thank you for your gift, which amounted to more than 200 armed vehicles which will be used to eliminate the terrorists and insurgents” he added.
The Sudanese army has announced over the weekend that it inflicted a crushing defeat on rebels in South Darfur and seized hundreds of vehicles.
Bashir stressed that those who boycotted the elections have exercised their constitutional right “because Sudan is free and its people are free…. whoever does not want to participate it is their right and we respect their opinion and we respect their position,” emphasizing that he would not accept orders or dictates of anyone.
“I salute the election commission and observers who testified with us that the polls were clean, free and transparent,” he added.
The NCP also secured an easy win in the parliamentary elections with 323 out of the 426 seats in the National Assembly.
The opposition boycotted the election, citing widespread crackdown on civil society and the media, which they say created an impossible environment to fairly contest Bashir’s presidency.
The African Union (AU) observer mission confirmed last week the low turnout in the elections saying it would not exceed 40% and said this could be partially due to boycott by opposition parties.
In a statement issued on Monday, the SPLM-N deputy chairman Abdel Aziz Helu rejected the outcome of the “fake elections” saying “it only confirms the regime’s lack of legitimacy”.
Helu further reiterated “the continuation of the armed struggle to serve to the Sudanese people and their rights in citizenship, freedom and democracy”.
In a message of solidarity with protesters in Lagawa town in West Kordofan state, the rebel leader hailed the successful boycott of elections and called to develop actions to achieve popular uprising in order to overthrow the regime.
The European Union, United States, Britain and Norway all criticized the election, saying the lack of a promised national dialogue left Sudan without an inclusive political process.
The Sudan Liberation Movement of Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) announced that it does not recognise the results of the elections and said that Sudanese people boycotted it.
Abu-Obeida al-Khalifa, an SLM official, said that the elections showed the true weight of the NCP and that the international community refused to recognise the results.
In Washington, the US State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke told reporters that “we do not consider the outcome of these elections to be a credible expression of the will of the Sudanese people”.
(ST)